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Key moments

It was a good 40 hours between Lachlan finishing his GBDURO race and the next person coming in. Despite requiring a new fork and slipping down the ranks of the race, Angus Young quickly made up for lost time to come in second in 150H 24M.

After a further 8 hours of riders gritting their teeth on the final stretches of the route, they began to roll in just in the nick of time for the finishing party.

Philippa tackled Great Dun Fell at night 😱

The weather returned to what we now consider 'normal' and it was a case of donning the ol' rain jacket again but with views like this, it's hard to be disappointed.

Photo: Philippa Battye

It all got a bit much for Ren who scratched due to exhaustion, though she continued to chime in with encouraging words for those still out on the course. In a similar vain, Lachlan Morton was cheering for his fellow riders as they finished.

Photo: Pete Crawforth at the all-important finish line

In the end, there were ten finishers all with absolutely incredible stories to share from their time on the trail. Miles Resso is just a few kilometres from the finish where he'll be greeted by his fellow riders.

If you're interested in taking part in next year's edition of GBDURO, keep your eyes peeled on The Racing Collective's website.

The DotWatcher Digest

We'll begin with the sad news of the day that Callum has scratched. His achilles was giving him grief so he's going to repair that and no doubt return with a vengeance.

The morning began with very different experiences. At the head of the rolling picnic, Lachlan Morton has officially said he's seen the most beautiful sunrise of his life. Check it out and see what you think.

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On that note, I reckon we'll see him finish before the day is out. He has 120km to go at the time of writing this report.

At the other end of the picnic blanket in Chester, Renata witnessed something quite different. Amazingly, she resisted joining in.

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Most riders spent the night at CP3 in Garrigil however Mark Tillet decided to pull an all-nighter in hopes of getting ahead. Andy has since caught up

Previous second placer, Angus, had to wait for his fork to be replaced which is why you'll notice he slipped down the ranks a little. He's back on the road now and will no doubt aim to make up for lost distance.

The sun has graced us with its presence and riders appear to be enjoying the contrast from the early days of the race. Some have even dropped a layer!

The stealth rider, Meg Pugh, was spotted in the wild by Phil earlier this afternoon. They both crossed the border of England and Scotland together and shared a couple of selfies en route.

It turned out to be a glorious night of riding for those in the hills and @cadence_images was on hand to capture a beautiful sunset.

Lachlan Morton also enjoyed the company of some roadside dotwatchers on his way north last night (photos by Harry Dowdney)

Meanwhile, Philippa Battye settled down in a lovely spot outside an Indian takeaway presumably wrapped in a naan bread for extra midnight snacks.

With this somewhat late arrival from the sun, more alfresco rolling picnics got the riders started this morning.

In stark contract to each other, Mark Tillett enjoyed an early morning refuel of cereal in a coffee cup while Philippa made best use of her BnB facilities (yes, she slept outside the Indian takeaway but called in to redeem her breakfast!) for the same result.

The front runners cracked on towards Garrigil through a beautiful Yorkshire landscape. With sun, views for days and tailwinds, what could have possibly gone wrong? Well dear reader, mechanicals did. Three riders reported downtime within minutes of each other: Fraser has a ding in his rim, Philippa ended up with a fair chunk of hike-a-bike to fix her rig and Angus has a crack in his fork 😱

Further up the road, Lachlan has reached Fort Augustus after "relaxing" in a hedge last night. He's set to begin the final stage of 380km tomorrow morning at 3:30am. Will he complete #GBDURO19 in sub-7 days?

Lachlan's 5* hotel for the night

Unfortunately we have to report a couple more scratches: Christian and Iida had to withdraw today. Both in good health and Iida has even hinted at joining the riders at the finishing party next week.

As is the case during many ultra-endurance races, keeping oneself energised is of utmost importance. It's therefore appropriate that a couple of riders have dubbed #GBDURO19 more of a 'rolling picnic' and have shared their nutritional delights with the wider group. We've seen everything from pizza and fry-ups with a side of chips (yes, chips for breakfast) to pans of custard and freshly made sticky toffee pudding courtesy of the checkpoint volunteers.

Speaking of checkpoints, I'm delighted to say everyone still on the race is now through CP1 after Renata arrived at around 1:30 this morning - a great effort to continue long into the night after several enduring days.

Riders have been catapulted from rural Welsh countryside to metropolitan Manchester within a number of hours which has led to sensory overload for many.

Miles reflects on the changing terrain while enjoying a scenic view of the M60.

Help was at hand courtesy of the lovely staff (shout out to Charlie) at Patagonia in Manchester who turned on the coffee machine and offered riders some of their finest brew and a place to perch for a bit of rest.

Miles followed Lachlan's advice and chucked in a pair of hiking boots ready for the next stage.

And on that note, Lachlan opted for a hotel in Alston last night, presumably as a place to dry his clothes. The rules of the race dictate that the time spent at checkpoints does not count towards the final aggregate time so there was a question as to whether the clock continued to tick while Lachlan slept. Luckily, he doubled back on himself before he set off properly and the race director has okay'd this and the man in pink was free to continue with time on his side.

As expected, he quickly said his goodbyes to England and crossed the border into the land of haggis and whisky. He's immersed himself in the local culture so far so we fully expect him to chuck some IRN BRU and deep fried pizza into his bikepacking bags for the last few miles.

It's worth noting that the list of riders on the tracker you see on this page isn't exhaustive - there is one stealth mode rider in the form of Meg Pugh whose name you might recognise from other ultra races. Confirmation of start and finish times is done via time-stamped Instagram posts so a tracker is really just for us dotwatchers. 21st century racing now, don't you know?

It's been incredible watching Lachlan Morton steam ahead. He made it to CP2 in an eye-watering 63 hours. 1100km in 63 hours. Incredible. It didn't look easy either - headwinds and low visibility played a significant role in today's challenge, however his sense of humour was strong with him advising the WhatsApp rider group to grab a pair of hiking boots on their way through Manchester for the climbs that follow. It looks like he's turned down a night's sleep in Garrigil and opted for a hotel room further up the road.

Photo: Harry Dowdney

A leisurely start for the riders who camped out at CP1 overnight meant they left shortly after 9am with a few now about to put Wales behind them and sweep across England. Despite the Welsh weather (and let's face it, wider UK weather today) one thing has kept most people going: FOOD!

An early morning river crossing gets everyone's legs warmed up for the day.

Andy Deacon looks ahead to yet another climb...

...before he shares a chippy tea with Mark Tillett

And Philippa Battye keeps her nutrition strategy rolling before claiming that stage 2 surpasses stage 1 in difficulty by a long shot.

Further back in the pack, three riders are celebrating their arrival at CP1 with another not a million miles away from joining them.

It's been a tough day for everyone getting through yet more average weather conditions while locating disguised singletrack sections and grinding up a lot of hills.